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Wednesday, March 15, 2017

SPOILERS: Batwoman #1

Batwoman gets her own new series (again) with Steve Epting along for the ride, and it really reminds me of Velvet... I mean, it's pretty much Velvet kind of.

The Spoilers:

It's been a few weeks since Batwoman left Gotham to chase down the sellers of the monster venom, and with Julia Pennyworth in her ear, she's cornered a terrorist using it in an Istanbul market. Unfortunately, her target is assassinated shortly after she subdues him and he blurts out "the many arms of death." See that lady on the cover with the face? Her. Lady gets away.

The dagger left behind leads Kate and Julia to an island known as Cornaya, where Kate had previously spent time in the "lost year," under the care of a woman named Safiya, and her "right hand man," Rafael. There's some history there, and the way Kate speaks about it, it gives off the impression that some shit went down and has yet to go down. This is all evident by the fact that when Kate shows up on the docks of the island, she's met by Rafael, with a knife in his back, asking why she came back, as he presumably dies.

The Opinion:

Globetrotting highly trained lady in exotic places with people dying under the cloud of mystery? Yeah, this is straight up Velvet, but batty. Not that being compared to Brubaker and Epting's recent series is a bad thing, I'm just saying this series reminds me of it, in a good way.

This doesn't feel like you're average Bat book, and I have reason to like and dislike that. I like it because obviously, it's a change of pace, and those can be good. But on the other hand, I'm a fan of motherfucking Gotham. I'm of the mind that while Batman appears in infinite books no problem, you can have as many people you want hanging out in Gotham, it's a big creative place. I mean, every other week I bitch about Damian being on-page kicked out of Gotham ever since he got brought back to life years back. Gotham is just the city I love to read, Coryana, while potentially interesting for the part it will play, I can almost guarantee I'll forget entirely about within six months of this book's story taking it away from there. Cynical, but honest. So safe to say, I'm conflicted because the change of pace is nice, but the Bat out of Gotham trope isn't something I usually go for.

That said, everything that is set up is done with a distinct international woman of mystery vibe... Much like Velvet, which I dig. I loved Julia's inclusion in the series, and her refusing to answer Kate's question as to what her role is, was possibly my favorite little moment of the book.

Also, Steve Epting is a god. Also, Jeromy Cox is probably one of the most underrated color artists out there today.

Also, also, still don't like Kate with a buzz cut. Hair in comics man... my thoughts are well documented!